Manchester Utd 2 - Liverpool 1: Football the loser on a day of shame

SNUBBED handshakes, tunnel trouble, snarling insults – and the Theatre of Dreams was transformed into an amphitheatre of hate.

Patrice Evra celebrates in front of the United fans at the Stretford End after the game []

Above it all rose Wayne Rooney to celebrate his 500th appearance for club and country with two finishes to make it 213 goals.

At times you wondered whether this combustible mix of aggression and desire was a Don King production – the famous boxing promoter wouldn’t have had any trouble selling seats for the latest blockbuster.

We had the good, Rooney’s goals, the bad, Liverpool’s failure to impose themselves until too late, and the ugly, the Luis Suarez-Patrice Evra affair which seems to be running longer than The Mousetrap.

Just when a tiresome saga which has shamed football was ready to be finally put to bed, oafish behaviour from Suarez reignited the feud.

A week of promises that the potential tinderbox situation would be dampened down obviously fell on deaf ears as far as the controversial Uruguayan was concerned.

Handshake the main talking point in tense affair

With Old Trafford and the football world watching, Suarez reduced the pre-match handshake ceremony to a farce more fitting with the hyped boxing circus. The Liverpool striker refused to acknowledge the waiting Evra, extending his hand instead to David de Gea, who was next in line.

A wound-up Evra grabbed Suarez’s arm in disgust, prompting referee Phil Dowd to administer his first lecture before a ball had been kicked. You half expected a yellow card.

To compound the stupidity, Rio Ferdinand then snubbed Suarez further along the line. Shouldn’t the Premier League scrap this cosmetic custom, leaving handshakes to the end of the game – or change their theme music to Saturday Night’s All Right For Fighting?

The pathetic prelude set the marker for a game which always threatened to boil over.

Sadly, Suarez’s provocative stance in the aftermath of his eight-game ban for racially abusing Evra poured petrol on the flames.

There was no holding back, epitomised by Ferdinand and Evra running into each other as they tried to block a Suarez run. Then Jonny Evans left a boot in the South American’s head after Suarez ducked into a challenge.

Anyone expecting a game for the purists, full of artistry and delightful passing, should have left the stadium – it was never going to be like that.

At the end, it was all too much for Evra whose emotion boiled over into over-zealous celebration, milking the applause from the United fans, being hoisted to the sky by Ferdinand, and then racing towards the Stretford End to goad Suarez. That earned him a lecture from ref Dowd and sparked part two of a confrontation between both sets of players which had to be quelled by stewards and police.

Part one erupted in the tunnel at half-time as Evra followed Suarez to the dressing rooms. Martin Skrtel came between the pair, followed again by security men and boys in blue.

But Liverpool couldn’t get anywhere near Rooney as he took the game away from them at the beginning of the second half with a two-goal smash-and-grab.

His goal instinct was evident as Ryan Giggs swung over a corner which skimmed off Jordan Henderson’s head under pressure from Michael Carrick to Rooney, who steered United into the lead.

Three minutes later Liverpool were again exposed, this time their downfall being self-inflicted. Jay Spearing was caught in possession by Antonio Valencia, who released Rooney for another clinical finish. Until yesterday the former Everton player had struck only twice in 19 games against Liverpool.

There was even an opportunity for his hat-trick as a wonderful dummy by Paul Scholes from Valencia’s cross left Rooney in the clear, only for him to slice the chance past the post.

United took their foot off the gas, allowing Suarez to light the fuse for an explosive end to the game.

When a Charlie Adam free-kick rebounded off Ferdinand, Suarez beat De Gea from close range. It needed a good save from the Spaniard to deny Glen Johnson in added time.